FORD AND HIS OLD CABINET TO MEET, NO BUTS ABOUT IT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00901R000500080009-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 14, 2000
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: April 26, 1981
• Content Type: NSPR

I /A I IN I L
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' LZUD NEW YORK DAILY PTE',15
26 April 1981
17.41rsi.tql-cl WsJdClibinef
t?* gisteet; AO buts =boot it
?.
Former' President Gerald- Ford. has. _called an
extraordinary session of his former aides and cabinet
members for Tuesday ill:Grand Rapids, Mich.; to
consider a weighty problem: more theft 15 million
sheets of paper about most of the public life of the
,former congressman and President that are housed
.in the Ford Memorial- Library. It opens tomorrow. T.
Fort two meetings, each to last_ about an hour, the
minutes -will record those in attendance as Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger, CIA Director" William
Colby.. Secretary of' the Treasury William Simon,
Secretary of Transportation William Coleman, Press
Secretary ROXI. Nessen, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld,...presidential counsel- Anne Armstrong,
Secretary. of Commerce Eliot Richardson and Attor-
? ney General Ed Levi, to name a few.........
For Ford, it's history. No other former President
has ever called his cabinet back into session after
leaving the White House.
Absent 'will be "-James Schlesinger, who was
bounced .as defense secretary after a feud with
Kissinger, and Earl Butz,- the formerl agriculture
secretary who suffered from foot-in-mouth disease.
?They wereret invited. ? '
The- Ford Library, said Ford spokesman -Bob
Barrett, cost $1.5 million andwas paid for by 14,000
contributors- and the University of Michigan.. The
?library a--two-story brick building with red oak
walls- inside .and a high-security vault for special
papers and a private office for Ford, should he ever.
want to-do research or writing there.
' About .1.58- former White Hous4 aides have been
'working- to 'put the library in order, a . huge, job
because Ford was thi-first chief executive to donate
his papers -While still in office. The collection'
? includes 7,000 hours of video and audio tapes..."
? ? A presidentia1 museum also is being built at Ann_
Arbor by the university., -
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iSMTicr.P APPEARED
LLY
Sovleis- Back:
1:4
errorisrn
? By Howie Kurtz i ???t? -
.1Vdshingtoo Star Staff Wruter-
In a tightly guarded hearing room
at the first session of the Senate's
new subcommittee on security and
terrorisna,o?.witnesses yesterday
warned that theSoviet Union is sup-
porting &network of terrorist orga-
nizations around the world.' ? ?
Former- CIA Director William E.
Colby told the panel that the Soviets
"have directly trained and supplied
elements around the world engaged
in what ;they euphemistically call
wars of national liberation."-Hesaid
? the -Soviets. have employed.."their
proxies and surrogates of Cubans,
East Germans, Czechs and-:others'
against the United States, its allies
and a host of other countries rang-
ing from Mexico to Morocco..
Although
Although these violent groups are
not directed from-a central "war
room" in Moscow, Colby said, the So-
viets must beheld responsible for
them. "They are notdirecting the-or-
chestra, but they did provide the in-
struments..:? There is training in
the finer arts of sabotage; demolition
and guerrilla ambushes." .
Colby's warning- was echoed-- by
the subcommittee:- chairman,,,Sen.
Jeremiah Denton, Ft-Ala., who said
his concern. that Soviet-backed ter-
rorists might. infiltrate the United
States was."urgent realism, not para-?
noia." Denton, a former prisoner of
war in North Vietnam, plans to hold
further hearings- on this "new and
most insidious. threat's,- before his
panel, a new. version:of-the Senate-
internal security subcommittee that
probed Communist influences dun,
lug the 1950s. ? ? ? --1,e
"The sand in which we bury ou&.
heads will eventually. bury our na-:
tion," Denton. said,.
While Denton sounded his Clarion
call, more- than a -dozen-sign-
wielding protesters marched outside
the Dirksen Senate. Office Building
shouting. "No more witch hunts!" In-
side, security was ' tight as plaine
clothes policemen'. guarded -the
witness table and 'a metal detector
was used tcescreen visitors.- -
WASHINGTON sTiusTATINT
25 APRIL 1981
? Denton interrupted the testimOny
several times to talk at length about
his experiences as a prisoner in Ha-.
noi, speaking with great emotion as
he questioned the role of the.media?
in the growth of opposition to the
Vietnam War. ?
''The- press hurt our cause,- he-
-said. "It: hurt. It hurt for the North
Vietnamese to be seeing all the glory
of (the war) and for the U.S, to -be
seeing the hell of it. It is inevitable,
that the press in this country leans-
to the left(But) tens of millions of
people are now living in slavery fin
.:We. must get our-per-
spective back."
The-senator spid he didn't think
reporters who wrote about the anti-
war movement had been "subvert-
ed' by-the Soviet- KGB,- but-that-
American journalists need to be
more "careful" about challenging
the motives of their government.
Denton said the KGB has an entire
department devoted to spreading-
- "disinformation,".:which he said "is
to be accomplished by fabricating'
lies, planting forged documents and
spreading issue-obfuscating propa-
ganda in situations where a story-
hungry and sometimes gullible.
_press would seize upon them.", .
Arnaud deBorchgrave, a former-
foreign correspondent for. News?e
week and author, of "The Spike," a ?
novel about terrorism, said the KGB
is trying "to recruit agents.. and
sources inside the Reagan adminis-
tration and to steal industrial and
high-technology secrets.'
DeBorchgrave said -that "at least
1,000 Soviet, Cuban and East Europe-
an diplomats" in this country are
known or suspected intelligence
agents, and that the staff of the Unit-
ed Nations "is under increasing KGB
control," using U.N. publications to
spread Soviet disinformation in the
Third World. He added that Soviet
agents had been feeding "disinfor-
mation" for years to a prominent -
French journalist, who willingly
published it until-he was caught and
convicted last year.. ?
"The KGB is in the position of nev-
er having to get its hands dirty," he
said. "The East German secret ser-
vice has done a lot of subcontracting
work for the KGB in such countries
as Libya, Angola, Mozambique, Ethi-
opia and South Yemen."
Claire Sterling, a foreign corre-
spondent in Rome and author of a
book about terrorism, said, "A), goy-4
ernments have beetrextremely re-
luctant ? to point a finger at the
Soviets for developing what was a
cottage industry to the sophisticat-
ed, high-technology industry it has
become..
"This is an undeclared war ...The
terrorists themselves have said the
ultimate objective, is us,"' Sterling
said. She said there is "no master-
mind" in Moscow directing these
groups, but that the Soviets provide
--arms and sanctuaries for many ter-
rorists through Cuba and the Pales-
tinian resistance movement.
Michael Ledeen, editor of The-
Washington Quarterly, said many in-
formants are reluctant to pass se-
crets to American officials 'for fear
they will be leaked. He said he re-
. cently gave some sensitive informa-
? tion to State Department officials in
an off-the-record conversation-, only
to receive a call three hours later
from a reporter who questioned him
about the details of theconyersa-
: tion. ;;- ?
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Mf-Tiat#
ON P.-1. Gir?
For Release 20(4,4006Q7 !_pci44-RDP91-009
25 APRIL 1981
Hearing on Terror ?pens
With Warning of Soviet
By CHARLES MOHR
Special to The Neve York riffle'
WASHINGTON, April 2.4.? The new - -
Senate Subcommittee on Sectirity -and ?'4-Man1PiliatIon of viestem
Terrorism opened hearings today with its Mr. de Borchgrave testified that a
chairman, Jeremiah A. Denton, strongly Soviet plan for defeating the West that he
endorsing contentions by a number of said was initiated in 1968 called for a wide
witnesses that the Soviet Union was re-
sponsible for most-international terror-
ism.
The Alabama Republican said that if
the United States ignored the threat of
terrorism "the sand in which we bury our
beads will eventually buryour
Senator Denten; a former admiral and
naval aviator who. was-shot down over
North Vietnam and imprisoned there for
more than seven stiNirs, also said in:a-
sta tern ent that Soviet and other hostilein-
telligence a gen cieshad enjoyed "a meas-
ure of success" in so-called disinforma-
tion campaigns aimed partly at mislead-
ing "a story-hungry and sornetimesgulli-
hie press.
A number of left-wing and liberal politi-
cal organizations-issued statements de-
ploring the creation of the subcommittee,
suggesting that it might signaia return to
"McCarthyism" and political interroga-
tions in the pattern of- the internal se-
curity investigations in the 1950's.
There were fewer -fireworks than The
crowds of political activists and tourists
who lined up for-scarce-seats in a,Senate
hearing room had seerned-to expect, but
the day was not without drama.
The- subcommittee, -an arrri of the Sen-
ate Judiciary Committee. heard sworn
testimony from Claire Sterling,- a-Rome-
based .American foreign correspondent
and author of the- recently published
book, "The Terror Netwisrer from Ar-
naud de BOrehgrave,..-a- former corre-
spondent for Newsweek Magazine and co-
auteeer of a political novel entitled-The
Spike"- from Dr. Michael- Ledeerne his-
torian, foreign-policy_ analyst and editor,
and foni WillianrE. Colby, a-former Di-
rector of Central Intelligence.
All four witnesses testified that they
believed that the-Soviet Union had given
material support, training and encour-
agement to a vridenetwork of terrorist or-
ganizations. ?
Mr. de Borchgrave, Mr. Ledeen and
Senator Denton also, placed strong, em-
phasis on accusations that the K.G.B.,
the Soviet intelligence and internal-
security agency, had enjoyed consider-
able success in deceiving Western opinion
through so-called disinformation. .
Disinformation Is an intelligence term,
derived from a Russiansrord, meaning in
part-the clandestine planting of informa-
tiorrby one power to the disadvantage of
: another pcnver or group.
range of measures but "above all, the
manipulation of the Western media" and
the "sabotage of Western intelligence
services through press exposure."
He. also testified that there was ..."Ir-
refulable proof" that the 'Soviet-Union
Was playing "a covert role in promoting
the antinuclear lobby." He asserted that
what he called a well-known Soviet front
organization was "affiliated" with an or-
ganization known as Mobilization for Sur-
This gr?xip is an umbrella organization
of 'several antiwar and antinuclear power
groups that has demonstrated against nu-
clear power plants and against nuclear
weapons.,
. It was this kind of accusation that jib-
.ral had predicted would result
from me creation or the subcommittee. A-
statement issued this morning by Ameri-
cans for Democratic Action said that
"the hearings were Inappropriate" and
charged that the subcommittee "appears
to be seeking only a platform to make its
inflammatory charges about the nature -
of terrorism lathe world today." ?
Mobilization for Survival, which says it
has 140 affiliated organizations devoted
to opposing the "arms race" and stop-
ping nuclear power, issued a statement in
Philadelphia this evening, saying that the
testimony was "reminiscent of the re-
pression and intimidation of the McCar-
thy era" and asking Senator Denton to
"disallow any further unsubstantiated
and damaging charges to be enteredinto
the record of his committee."' - ? ? -
At several points today Senator Denton
made long, extemporaneous remarks
about his imprisonment, his torture by
the North Vietnamese and his resentment
that opinions similar to those of the North
Vietnamese had been expressed by Jour-
nalists and members of Congress during
thewar. .? -?
At another point he said that a televi-
sion station in Huntsville, Ala., had tele-
phoned to ask if he was "wearing a bullet-
proof vest." Opening several buttons of
his shirt, he said, "No, tam not." 7
Although no bulletproof vests were evi-
dent, several plainclothes officers of the
Capitol police force guarded the ?fearing
room, along with the usual uniformed
Capitol police guards. Joel S. Lisker, the
subcommittee counsel, said that he had
requested the plainclothes 'Officers, but
added that no threats ofviolence had
been received by the panel. ,
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been ??a. cover-up.. Dy sum cz Let LL=g--
ligence Agencies of Soviet complicity in
terrorism and that "my book proves it."
Sbe said that such alleged suppression of
evidence had probably been motivated in
large part by diplomatic considerations
and by desires to preserve d?nte.
Senator Denten began the heariege
reading what he said was anew Central
.Intelligeoce Agencyedefir.itien of terror-
ism. There have been reports that the
itriiiion was being broadened by-the
1. Reagan Administration.
I Siiifor-Denton said, partetha
ii t the
new definition was that "terrorism is the
threat or use of vibTence for political
olIc effect thafis aimed at achlee*g
psychological impact on a target group
wid-ef tnan ite immediate victims:" The-
new definition also includes operations
with "military, paramilitary or insurrec-
tionary goals' if "they involve terrorist
acts," the Senator said. This would seem
to include some wars of national
ton. The elder definition, as contained in
aePeesideetial executive order, is com-
plex but apparently narrower.
?
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THE WASHINGTON POST
O PAGY.
25 April 1981
By George Lardner Jr.
WashIngtoct Poot Stalf Writer
Warning against the notion that "it
can't happen,- here," Sen.' Jeremiah
Denton (R-Ala.) opened hearings yes-
terday, on the "new threat' of terror-
ism that, he said, is endangering free-
dom in. the United States- and else-!.
_where.
A succssion of 'witnesses, -led by'
former CIA director William E. Colby,:
blamed the Kremlin and a number of:
its allies for training,laupporting andi
equipping terrorists oda far-flung in-?
ternational scale, but agreed thati
there was no "mastermind." direeting!
the violence.
"I think there is a feeling that there:
is a central war room with flashing
lights," Colby told Denton's subcom-
mittee. "There is no central war
room." The Soviet Union "did provide.
-the instruments," but neither the Rus.a.
`sians nor any other...government, he'
said, is "directing the orcheetra!'
? The inquiry, the first in. a sporadic
round of sessions to-beheld'in coming
weeks, produced instant controversy:
and echoes of the- past. Yesterday
morning, a small group of protesters-.
showed up as the Ad Hoc-Committee!
Against the SST (Subcommittee on;
Security and Terrorism), :to warn,
against a return to- the red-baiting'-
days of the 1940s and 'Rs. Disap-I'
proving press releases abounded. -1-
- Testifying after Colby was-Journalist
Claire Sterling, author of The Terror.
Network, a book that describes Soviet'
and surrogate support for terrorists of
all persuasions, including Irish extrem-
ists and Spanish Basques. She- said
such collaboration - began roughly
around 1968, but suggested the Soviet
contribution could best. be described
as "a do-it-yourself kit for terrorist
warfare" that might destablize West-
em societies.
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Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). ques-
tionedher about the book's charges
that ? Western intelligence agencies
have long known but said nothing
about the Soviet involvement.
? "Have the' CIA and the FBI been
bought?" he asked after noting that
she had written ."the fur is in."
? "Well, I don't -know about the FBI,"
Sterling replied. She added that she '
wasn't talking about just the CIA,. but
about "all the Western governments"
that have been under attack by ter- '
rorists. Those governments, she said,
have been ? "extremely reluctant to
point a finger at the Soviet Union,"
perhaps to preserve the spirit of de-
tente. perhaps for other political rea-
sons. --
'-"I don't have a plotter's mentality,"
she said. "The fix is political."
- Sterling, who has lived in Italy for
30 years, declined to. suggest what
should be done in America. It was
widely agreed at the hearing that, as
another witness, Washington Quarter-
ly editor Michael Ledeen, put it, "at
the moment, domestically, there is no
problem to cope with." .
Security at the hearing was, none-.
theless, tight. The public had to enter
through a metal detector. Plainclothes
security officers dotted the room, al-
though subcommittee chief counsel
Joel Lisker, who asked for their pres-
ince; told reporters that no threats'
. had been received.'
During the afternoon session, Den-
ton announced that he-had received a
call from a Huntsville, Ala., television
'station, asking him if he was wearing
a bulletproof vest He then unbut-
toned his shirt a bit and announced
that "the answer is no." ?-? ?
Another main topic at the hearing ?
Was the issue- of "disinformation," .on.
which, Denton said, the. Soviet KGB.
expends much effort, especially in "re-
cruitment of Western journalists."- ?
'.The primary witless on the-issue,'
former Newsweek correspondent. Ar-
..naud de Borchgrave, said he became,'
? interested in the subject' in theists"
2 OSLO 3/07 toOlospfkIN*9011f0509-
-and 'colleague In France was on tne...
PaYrolL '
He did not elaborate.
Citing a number of leading scien-
tists. from Andrei Sakharov. to Fred
Hoyle, de Borchgrave also . suggested
that "the Soviet Union today is play-
ing a covert the antinuclear
lobby" ?
He charged ,that "there is a direct
link between- the World Peace Coun-
cil, a well-known Soviet front organi-:
zation, and antinuclear lobbies both in
the U.S. and West Europe." De
Borchgrave added that the peace
council's U.S. branch is "affiliated
with MFS ? .Mobilization for Surviv-
al?which is a leading umbrella or--t
gaxiization for antinuclear groups."
"Interestingly enough," de Borch-
grave continued, "MFS ? has now
!inked the antinuclear protest
lateral disarmament advocates, New
Left activists and some ecologists."
But he said current FBI guidelines .
make it difficult for the bureau to
monitor "the very gimps and individ-
uals that the KGB hopes to manip-
ulate or recruit." " ?
? MFS, a'Philadelphia-bas ed organ--
ration, issued a statement lass evening
denouncing suggestions of---eitemal
-domination as' "total fabrication" and .
protesting that "the. kind dila by
? association tactics employed'-by Mr.
'de' Borchgrave can only be-gaid- to be
: reminiscent of the repreeSibri:and. in-
timidatiOn of the McCarthy pia"
- Throughout the hearing;-'. Denton
:professed his "hopes' of A "rapfiroche-
'-'menr between the U.S.' -press and
government, and repeatedly 'expressed
his chagrin' over the news media's pc,-
formance during the Vietnanc war...At
one point; Colby alluded to the-QIA's
- finding that the ? antiwar'.' rioviement
was -"an indigenous movenient" . and
not dependent on foreign sUpport.::.
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AnTICEel
".3PLi
erroris
THE BALTIMORE SUN
24 April 1981
By Vernon A. Guidry, Jr..
Wa5hirtgton Bureau of The Sun
Washington ? Terrorist acts in the
United States are declining; undermining
"doomsday rhetoric" about domestic-ter-
rorism, says the executive assistant direc-
tor of the FBI in charge of investigations.
"Right now, the.risk is tolerable,"'said
Francis L Mullen I?a interview. "We
believe we are effective:. : . We do have
the ability to investigate terrorist activity
and groups."
The level of terrorist activity--ixith do-
mastic and international?has become a
matter of controversy, and so is the ques-
ticn of the appropriate response. A Senate ,
subcommittee begins hearings today on -
the current extent of terrorism. '
As the FBI- measures terrorist inci-
dents, there were 111 in the United States-
in 1977. 65 in 1978, 52 in 1970, and 29 in
1980. These are incidents; Mr. Mullen said,
in which a claim of responsibility is made
by a terrorist organization or in which
there is "good evidence" of terrorist re-
sponsibility. - -
"I don't like to see all this rhetoric pre-
dicting a doomsday because I don't think
that's going to happen," Mr. Mullen said.
?? "Now, the potential is there," he went
oe. "We've got to agree-to that [bug the
problem is being addressed."
One- disturbing element is what Mr.
Mullen describes as "more of a willing-
ness to take human life" on the part of ter-
rorists operating in the United States than
had been the case before.
"What we're concerned about, and
what we are watching closely, is that the
United States doesn't- become a battle-
ground" between different foreign politi-
cal factions, he said. He- cites Libyan,
Cuban and Iranian activities as examples.
? "The only active [terrorists] wekave
that are really anti-U.S. government are
the Puerto Rican groups," he said.
"We do suspect Cuban involvement in
Iterrorisrri involving} Puerto Rico, but to
say Soviet involvement, no, we can't prove
ri
it," Mr. Mullen said in response tc; a ques-
tion about Moscow's possible role.:
This is a key element in the controver-
sy over international terrorism. Secretare
of State Alexander M. Haig, .rie, largely
began the current debate by focusing at-
?
tention on what he called "rampant inter-
national terrorism" and the role of .the
Soviet Union in sponsoring?it. . -
A number of experts have questioned
whether terrorist activity is.. actually
"rampant" at the moment. Pinning down
the extent of Soviet involvement also has
teen difficult..
This issue will be examined today in a
hearing before the Senate subcommittee
on terrorism, a group whose very creation
has stirred some fears that civil liberties
may be abused in the search for internal
threats.
One of the witnesses at today's bearing
will be Claire Sterling, a veteran Ameri-
can journalist who has written a book on
the subject, "The Terror network."
Ms. Sterling- maintains that the Soviet
; Union and its surrogates are- supporting
modern, terrorist movements. "All the
world's emerging terrorist bands in the
1970s were indebted to the Cubans and
their Russian patrons ..." she writes.
She is sharply critical of Western gov-
ernments and of the CIA in particular for
what she regards as a cowardly failure to
point to the Soviet Union as the- promoter
of terrorism..
Former CIA director William Colby,
? also to testily at today's hearing, says
that, overall, Ms. Sterling has "produced a
spectacularly effective analysis."
Mr. Colby says that the Soviet Union
must shoulder "a high degree of responsi-
bility" for international. terrorism, but
adds that "this doesn't mean that every
example of terrorism stems from a deci-
sion of the Politburo." ? , ..,
? As to his former employer, Mr. Colby
sa s Ms. Sterlin ? ma" be too much .ut off
by the act I . t 1 inte genre peo_p e try to
-write very precisely and not generalize
too much."'?. e.e...k.e ?
The controversy may ' have already
todched the CIA, however. Its annual re-
port on terrorist activity for 1980 has been
1...1.1 .,... in. nn nnnntineild reason_ and a I
.spokesman said yesterday it may not be
sehlished at all.
garner in the year, officials knowl-
edgeable about the issue said the. report !
for 1980 would conclude that there were
about the same number of terrorist incl.- i
dents outside. the United States as there
? were in 1979,Which bad itself represented '1
a decline from previous years. .
An article in The Washington- Post
this week indicated, however, that the
CIA's method of defining a urronst
inci-
dent had teen changed to increase Mei
number contained in me recce:" -
The use and misuse of lifFr?mation are
sure to come up before the subcommittee,
which is headed by Senator Jeremiah Den- !
ton (R, Ma.).
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THE WASHINGTON POST
Ani
ft, FAG Y. 24 April 1981
STATI NTL
_
'"" 4 11 ? -
;&n. Jeremiah Denton (1?-Ala.), head of the Senate sub
security and terrorism, recently discussed the role of In
members of the editorial page staff. The subcommittee
terrorismbegi n
? ,
itti en
,Q 'What is the inanclat.e of this'committee? .
My: cOncept-haminidergone some trans.:
-formation.- I've got ,two:nouns:p Security and
,Terrorism.: Those .are:;,,Very'!, broad terms, at
; . least Security ahnosVinin.ivorons. I tem-,
porarily had the., impreision that my jurisdic-
. thin-vas. purel4domestialerrorism.. But as t.
haftoteededWithithis thing and have been
asked , to work With,the Select Committee, an
Intelligence by Sen:Barry.Goldwater, asked to
talk with CIA Director Bill Casey and having
"seen that there is sort of. turf problem with the
, CIA and the FBI whicirwe'are-reading about;
its natural ,r; its bureaucratic find.
:.that they want me talook at the whole circuit:
ry; I'm-sure thatfarther down the pike we May
.-. be coining across some,Atherican who is being
used, as an agent-buttlaatis an infinitesimal
paxt, of it. I'm noq, eVen thinking about, that
: right now. ?;-,c .
Q:- six,, eight months" a. year frOntnow,
do you see this committee -.as.: having other
; furzetiOnS and manciates?-,6
; A: No. I don't see it happening. Functions
and mandates, but only in the context Of what,
I have already outlined.
? Q: Joel Lisker, Your subcommittee s staff
director, is quoted in The Washington Post as
saying..' that the subcommittee has a secret:
agenda. That art mwt quote. Organizations.
that it intends to investigate. Does the sub-
committee have a secret agenda?' .?
-A:, I don't know what he is talliffig aloout
have never heard of it I:mean,. he doesn't set
; the hearings up,. I do.1 told. '
him what business .1-Wanted
to get done. He comes from. ?
an FBI background, okay?
Q.They have s&etige?-
Ai'
They have secret agen-
. das..I don't even know what
he means. A secret agenda.
That's pretty' good. I 'can't
imagine Joel being % dumb
enough to say something like
' that. -
Q: Are you avian,. or. the
'anxieties expressed. by chili
libertarians z.artd 'others
;about the subcommittee's;1
creation, given. the past his-:
AP p ro:versloRatrriRtokraite$
LCOmr.littees?
o7, II
A:
inqh?f past,;
if one '1,V`Orks frona the con-
clusion that the government:
,,is infiltrated, infested with
communists, - and under-'
takes' to Prove .-stispicions
abOiit ;individuals, that' is.
' ? about,-! 180. degrees away'
-: from where I am starting2...
:springing from the
sumption that' every institution in the.
United States from academe to the media to
the government and Ito the FBI recognizes
that there are unmet, unchallenged,. even
, unidentified threats to U.S. security.
But we are the opposite of proper subjects
for disapproval by the civil libertaiians. The
object of preserving security is to preserve
the civil liberties we enjoy.. We're not going
to transgress those civil liberties in our ef-
fort .
Q. How do you riassure thaie civil libertar-'
ians on very specific issues of the handling of
hearings?
A. I could reassure. them most simply in
, terms of my personal relationships. Although I
had political disagreements , with' Allard.
;, Lowenstein, I had scores of hours of converse-
tions with him. He didn't have any fears that,'
'if I ever got involved in something like this, 1;
would bulldoze around in -
Q: Let's about. MCCaithYism
McCarthy techniques. Toulhave said you;.
want to avoid all that Canjourtell us what;
? your conception of McCarthyisnz is
A: We might have.:30 major 'concepts of:
IVIcCardayism is; and. mine is not that,
firm. I. don't. say that everything he did was:-
.:wrong. I just don't know that. much. My own;
'perception of him on? television was one that!
turned me Off, and I Watched the guy. How-':
ever, .I don't know that much in detail about.
how evil the guy's motives or even techniques,.
were. -
But there ?i something,. you want to
;avoid?
? A: Well, the objective of his thrust had to be,
Individuals within the United States who werei
disloyal. That is not. what I am doing, nor is it
in my sights to focus in On that Having said..
that, let me remind you that in looking at the;
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20 April 1981
??. .
_ . ?
STATINTL
SFTATINTL
?
'El Salvador:'-1C
a. T.4. 1.1
Debate over American action in Central Amer-
ica is dominated by the specter of Vietnam. Some-
call for a bold stance to exorcise the American de-
feat there. Some fear that sending the first few ad-,
visere will start a certain descent toward a pit of
hundreds of thousands of American soldiers!
locked in a fruitless and bloody jungle- battle.
Some predict the inevitability of revolutionary
success against a. corrtipt and brutal government.
And some decry' the analogy, saying El Salvador
and Vietnam have little in common, so-that the
earlier experience does not augur_ the result in a
new area. - -
The common measuring stick of these ointende
?ing points of view is an image of Vietnam emanat-
ing from the Tet Attack of 1968--masses of guer-
rillas outwitting a corrupt local government and a
ponderous and yet deadly American fighting force.
With this image,. the donclusion is inevitable that
we should not repeat the experience. -
But there were Several "Vietnams." A blind ap-
plication of only one in our decision-making process
tcday only exacerbated the cost of Vietnam and its
wounds upon the American body politic Identifica-
tion of these quite different "Vietnams" forces at-
tention to real policy alternatives rather than oblit-
erating the process by emotion and imagery.
John Paul Vann, a leading figure in our effort in
Vietnam from 1960 to his death in 1972, once com-
mented that Americans did not have 10years' war
experience in Vietnam (1960-1970) but rather one
year repeated many times, due to the short tours
most Americans spent there. But those with a,
longer perspectivacan clearly identify four distinct
periods of the American wartime experience in
Vietnam, each with its-own characteristics.
The first period,1960 to 1963, marked the stat-
of Hanoi's effort to overthrow the South, launched
by a call by the Lao Dong Party for the overthrow-
of President Ng* Dinh Diem and his American
allies. This was implemented by the reactivation of
dormant Communist nets_ in South Vietnam and
the infiltration:Of organizers and guerrilla leaders.
"After an initial period of indecision, the South Viet-
namese developed the Strategic Hamlet strategy, to
gather the smallest local communities for self-de-
fense, with the military's role being to support these
? communities and act against regular forces. The
American role was one of advice and support. -
This program had its failings, but it seized the
momentum of the, "people's war" to the extent
that Wilfred Burchett, an Australian Communist
apologist, later commented that "1962 belonged to
? tha:Government [of _South Vietnam]." At this
? point, a combination of urban political opposition.-
fats, Buddhist religious frenzy and Mandarin re-
pression led to American encouragement of a junta?
of generals to revolt against President Diem: Diem
might have won, or might have lost the people's
war on his own, but America's complicity in his
overthrow produced instant turmoil and cemented
America's responsibility for Vietnam's fate.
The second "Vietnam" is closest to the one com-
monly perceived from 1964 to 1968. Most Amer-
icans served then as our involvement increased to
550,000 men. Instructed to find, fbc and fight the'
enemy, they reacted with frustration and fre-
quently fury before an enemy that only occasion-
ally could even be found. The side effects of this
massive militarytforce in a tiny land dominate
most fictional and theatrical representations of
Vietnam, making, this period the basic reference I
point of Vietnam for most Americans. Its cuLeina-
tion was the. Tet Attact of 1968; whose media
drama so overshadowed its military failure. as to
win for the Vietnamese Communists a psychologi-
cal victory.- .
, The third "Vietnam" 'appeared between 1968'
and 1972. The rural countryside was rebuilt and
pacified by a revival of reliance upon village partici-
pation in defense and . development. The combat
was turned on the secret political enerny,? not just.
his military forces. The contrast with the earlier
period became dramatic in the opening of the Delta'
to land reform and commerce, the inning of local
security and self-defense forces for village protec-
tion and the resettlement of millions of refugees in I
the Villages from which they had been driven by the
war. And most of America's military force was
withdrawn from the cotintly. - . ? "
, Vietnamese Communists are quite frank today
in recognizing this period as the lowest point of
their effort to defeat South Vietnam. The shift
from the earlier period was best illustrated by the
large North Vietnamese military attack in the
spring of 1972, which took place only at three
points along South Vietnam's borders (Quang Tri,
Kontum and An Lac), with no countrywide guer-
rilla assault South Vietnamese, not American
foreese fought back and stopped the attacks,
helped, by reinforcements from the Delta where
they w,ere not needed to defend against local forces
and guerrillas. The American contribution was
limited to advisers, extensive logistim support and
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combat force participation on the ground.
-The fourth "Vietnam" appeared between 1973
and 1975. A "peace" treaty was pressed by the
United States upon South Vietnam,. which left
North Vietnamese forces in place in South Viet-
nam and the border areas of Cambodia and Laos..
American.logistics support of South. Vietnam's,
forces was cut back so that President Thieu's,
American-advised forward defense strategy be-
came impractical. When in_1975 -North Vietnam.
made a major assault at almost the same points as
in 1972, American logistics were held back by Con-
gress, and B52s did not fly.? South Vietnamese
tactical . errors, not substantially different from
some in 197Z led this time to total collapse before
the oncoming North Vietnamese armor, artillery
and regular forces. But even the North Vietnam-
ese.commander acknowledged that guerrillas:
played no part in his final victory. The boat People
have dramatized the human dimension of the out-
come; the degree to which it oast doubt on Amer?
lea's will and ability to stand by. its allies is more
ambiguous.::: ,
The question then is Which "Vietnam"? There
is little doubt that no one-wishes, to see another
Vietnam of th& turnioil and blood from 1964 to
1968.. Neither should we repeat' the 1960 to 1963,
period of America's turning against a friendly
president and gevernrnent for their imperfections
and producing something worse. Nor, one hopes,,
do we want to see a Vietnam of ? 1973 to 1975,
refusing aid to a nation battling a foe that Makes ,
no secret of its hostility to the United States. But
the Vietnam of- 1968 to 1972 offers a positive
model of a leading role for political, economic and.
social programs to enlist a nation to develop and:
defend itself, with American advice and assistance
in doing both. -
The writer, who was formerly director of the.
Central Intelligence Agency, directed
agency advisory teams in the Civil Operations,
and Rural Development Support (CORDS). mis-
sion in Vietnam from 1968 ,to 1971.
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3 April 1981
Ex-director, speaksfat OU
By TROUT POMEROY
Of The Oakland Press "Now we can look
He didn't exactly
And he admitted look like a spy. down from satellites
it.
But William Colby, 61, former - and count the enemy's
director of the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA)vtold a wealth of spy
stories for 200 students and other
guests during a one-hour address
Wednesday afternoon at Oakland
University - ? -
"Already, I think some of the
ladies are disappointed," he said.
"They're tprobably asking,
'Where's the, cloak? Where's the
stilleto? Where's the
Colby said such images of a spy
are, for the mostpart, elements of
the past. Intelligence gathering, he
said, has taken on a new look since
the Japanese:- bombing of Pearl
Harbor in December, 1941. "
"After our fleet was bcrmbed, we
looked around to see why we were
so surprised," he said.."We found it
wasn't for lack of information. We
had that. But it-hadn't been brought
together or centralized. So we
started at this time to-get really
serious about the business of
establishing an intelligence
service."
Subsequent --to World War II,
professionals, such as scientists;
attorneys, engineers and other
scholars were attracted to the CIA,
changing its image, Colby said. At
the same time, the agency also
began using advanced:technology--
"We don't have to do- things like-
send a spy shirking up ,through
' China to inspect the. Manchurian,
border," he aaid.,"Now we can look
tanks and troop
? movements. -.
-- William Colby
I, down from satellites and count the
, enemy's 'tanks and troop
movements. We have a precision of
ti knowledge now we couldn't have
dreamed about 30 years ago. We've
F.ILbecome a great technological
enterprise."
That, enterprise ran into
cr% difficulty, Coloy said, when the
fyietnam War and Watergate
,] turned intense public scrutiny upon
the agency.
He described that scrutiny as "an
orgy of recrimination" that
t "grossly exaggerated" the
k agency's actual record. Colby said
t the negative points that were
discussed during this time had
already been cleared up by the
agency. k
"But that didn't matter," he said.
"It still became a great political
football."
Control and accountability
structures now exist at the CIA to
prevent the kind of abuses that
caused the agency earlier damage,
Colby said.
Looking to the 1980s and beyond,
Colby insisted the CIA must
monitor global events and
William Colby.
described an organization more
attuned to the analysis of
inierrnation. - -
The purpose of intelligence, he
said, is to provide enough warning
so that changes can he made to
influence world events.
"One of our principle functions
needs to? be providing information
to enable the American intelligence
system to solve problems instead of
having to fight about them," he
? said. "Otherwise we would have
confusion."
After beginning his intelligence
career in World War II parachuting
behind German lines, Colby served
around the world before becoming
CIA director from 1973 to 1976. He is
currently an attorney in
Washington, D.C.,
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